Home minister moves to assuage fears on 'imposition of Hindi'

Chennai/New Delhi: The BJP-led government moved to assuage upset feelings over a directive asking central government employees to use Hindi while posting tweets or messages on social media after DMK Thursday opposed such a move, terming it as the beginning of imposition of Hindi.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Pic: AFP

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in the second tweet he posted on his new ministry handle Thursday, wrote: "The Home Ministry is of the view that all Indian languages are important. The Ministry is committed to promote all languages of the country."

In a statement, DMK president M. Karunanidhi said the official directive to government employees to give preference to the use of Hindi language in social media is contrary to an individual's wish and is the beginning of imposition of Hindi.

He was referring to a news report that the central government has directed its employees and employees of central undertakings and banks to use Hindi or both Hindi and English on their official web pages in social media like Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Facebook and Google.

Karunanidhi said giving prominence to Hindi alone without treating all the languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution equally is the first step in making non-Hindi speaking people second class citizens.

The DMK chief said people expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi to focus on taking forward the economy and working towards social upliftment.